Abstract
Real-Time Coaching and Pre-Service Teacher Education is a recently published book that describes an innovative coaching model supported by technology in an English language teacher education program in South Australia. Being based on an empirical research study carried out in an underresearched area, the book is one of the rare volumes that attempts to incorporate coaching into preservice teacher education by combining theory and practice. Given that the authors support their model with references to scholarly literature and provide a thorough description of how the theory was put into practice, this work could be of considerable interest to teacher educators, mentors and trainee teachers who wish to explore a technology-enhanced, real-time coaching model with a view to its possible implementation in their own contexts. Although the teacher trainees in the study belonged to the field of English language teaching, the book discusses the issues without reference to this field, making it potentially appropriate for a larger audience interested in teacher education in general.
It is composed of seven chapters neatly organized into two parts. The first part (i.e. the first three chapters) lay the theoretical foundations of the study by presenting a comprehensive literature review, in addition to outlining the real-time coaching model they propose. In a succinct introduction, the authors provide the rationale for placing an emphasis on several skills, such as reflection, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration. Their focus is justified as these skills are among much-valued 21st century skills (Kay, 2010). Then they vividly describe the current landscape of teacher education, referring to both local and global problems, to carve out the niche for the research they undertook. As the authors note, teacher education programs can experience problems due to lack of standards and accreditation, low quality teacher education and limited resources. In an attempt to take a step to eliminate such deep-rooted problems, the authors propose a practice-based rather than theoretical approach, highlighting the importance of teacher resilience, efficacy and reflection.
Some particularly useful features of the first part are the summaries of research findings and presentation of these under subheadings. Moreover, the authors outline the main features of the learning design. Using a combination of real-time coaching and design-based research, they attempt to initiate not only cognitive but also behavioral change to improve preservice teachers’ instructional skills. Their approach includes several key strategies: real-time coaching (supported by the principles of coaching in general) and a cycle of feedback and reflection. The authors also discuss the theoretical foundations of coaching and highlight its key characteristics, including repeated cycles of practice, mentor and peer feedback and reflection. Next, they provide a summary of what they did in the three phases of the study, which could be invaluable for people who want to put the model into practice. Finally, they elaborate on the research design, giving a particular emphasis to how their research relates to the literature.
The second part of the book presents the results of the study. The authors summarize the findings of their research under headings in the last four chapters. They support their claims with quotes from the interviews. While these quotes were useful in presenting other people’s perspectives, they were sometimes lengthy, and some readers might prefer shorter quotes that reflect the crux of the matter. Presenting samples of real-time feedback provided in sessions could have enriched the discussion and enabled the readers to understand better how the principles were applied during coaching sessions. The authors highlight several key findings, for example, “affective learning” (p. 53), in which affective outcomes for participants are noted, including enhanced confidence, resilience against challenges in teaching, reduced anxiety, and developing a critical tendency towards professional practice. I appreciated the authors’ clarity in explaining how affective learning relates to real-time coaching. They conclude (p. 64) that this model could help develop confident, efficacious and adaptable teachers who could overcome instructional difficulties and improve their professional knowledge.
The authors were upfront in admitting that the results pertaining to identity formation among the pre-service teachers were unexpected. This finding sounds quite valuable because, as the authors note, teacher identity plays an influential role in day-to-day instructional decisions. The coach and peers provided the practicing teachers with learner-centered, systematic, iterative, personalized, corrective and positive feedback, and negotiated weaknesses in their key skills to boost their effectiveness. As the authors summarize, the benefits of the model included affective improvements (resilience, confidence, efficacy, criticality and adaptability), better instructional skills and the building of a professional teacher identity. Other major benefits of the model included the opportunity to identify gaps in skills and work on them using iterative practice, reflection and feedback.
The true strength of this work is that it adeptly addresses the research questions and bridges the gap between theory and practice, not only by providing detailed theoretical information about the earlier studies and the model, but also by demonstrating the ways in which it was put into practice in a real teacher training setting. Furthermore, the book is organized in a way that considers the needs of the reader. For instance, the authors provide a brief outline of the seven chapters in the introduction (p. xvii), which could prove useful in giving readers an overall idea about the contents of book. The comprehensive list of references at the end of each chapter could be used by the reader to further explore different aspects of the issues. Moreover, appropriately located subheadings for key issues in the chapters add to the readability and the bulleted lists at various points highlight crucial issues. Finally, the glossary at the end of the book functions as a shortcut to understanding the key terminology used throughout the book. It was useful to go over this glossary before beginning to read the book.
As a teacher trainer, I am interested in the integration of various innovative technologies in teacher training programs. However, the way technology component is addressed in this book seems to leave some questions unanswered, such as where the mentor was and how he/she observed the class and heard what is going on in it. While the authors occasionally refer to their approach as “bug-in-ear coaching” they hardly discuss issues pertaining to how the wireless inner-ear device was used and potential challenges the users experienced (except for presenting data from earlier studies). Therefore, the book suggests more implications for the implementation of the coaching model rather than the integration of a potentially innovative technology into teacher training programs.
Another point is that context-specific (English language related) points and examples could have been provided, even if the focus was on micro teaching skills. While I was reading the book, one of the things that I was curious about was the field of study in which this research project was carried out, and this did not become clear until after I read the last chapter (Chapter 7, p. 95), as it was only vaguely mentioned in the methodology and in the quotes earlier. Some more contextual information could have been provided in earlier chapters to help the readers make sense of what they read with respect to second/foreign language teacher education. On the other hand, as I noted earlier, having no field-specific discussion makes the book appropriate for a larger audience from different educational fields.
Despite these weaknesses, overall this book provides a useful account of how to improve preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills using the Real-Time Coaching for Preservice Teachers Model. It presents a rigorous literature review and vividly illustrates how the authors moved from theory to practice. The book also guides researchers interested in teacher education as it discusses barriers to adoption and goes on to indicate multiple avenues of further research in the last chapter. For example, of particular interest to me is researching the use of this model remotely in practicum or to what extent it is possible to build an online community of preservice teachers. As the results of the study indicated, the model used in the study came with a number of benefits, so it seems worth giving it a try to help trainees minimize negative feelings and develop a strong teacher identity. In summary, this book helps understand the ins and outs of coaching in general and provides insights into how coaching can be put into practice in teacher education programs.